Everyone Has Secrets
by possumgurl
Summary: Why can't they? Boone and Shannon keep the truth of their sibling relationship from the survivors and lead them to believe they are, and always have been, lovers. BooneShannon
1. Prologue Part One

_Everyone Has Secrets _

Boone Carlisle couldn't remember a time when he didn't love Shannon Rutherford. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out when, or how, it had happened. Whenever he thought back to his childhood, she was always there. His beautiful sister. There had never been anyone else, just meaningless girlfriends who stood as replacements for who he could never have. Or at least that's what he thought – until Sydney. Even now he couldn't think of how it happened – it just did. And it scared him how right it felt to be with Shannon. Boone knew that it couldn't happen again. It wasn't moral. They were siblings, if even only stepsiblings, and there was no escaping that. Or at least that's what Boone thought until they reached the island. It was a blessing in disguise really. Nobody there knew them, and they could be anything they wanted without having to worry about the constant scorn of others. Nobody had to know who they really were. Everybody kept secrets, couldn't they do the same?


	2. Prologue Part Two

_Everyone Has Secrets – Prologue Part Two_

Boone spotted Shannon sprawled on her back among the countless fretting survivors, sunbathing. He rolled his eyes and made his way over to her through the rubble.

"I see you've found your luggage." He said, noting her bikini-clad form.

No answer.

"You should get up, I'm sure somebody could use your help," he told her, not really expecting an answer.

When Shannon continued to pay him no mind, Boone turned on his heel and walked back down the beach.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Asked Claire, who sat to Shannon's left, rubbing her very pregnant belly.

There was a long pause, and Claire wondered whether or not Shannon would ignore her as well, but then she spoke.

"Yes."


	3. Chapter One

"Hey you!"

Sawyer flipped around to face a blonde woman who was scantily clad in a red bikini…she looked a bit frantic.

"Mmmm," he drawled, giving her a slow once-over, "what can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Boone? He's my br-boyfriend," she corrected herself smoothly, hoping he wouldn't notice.

He clucked his tongue in regret.

"Damn, you're taken then."

"Yes," she spat coldly, "have you seen him?"

"Never heard of him."

Shannon stalked away angrily without another word, not missing the casual "feisty" left in her wake.

---

About a minute later, she was intercepted by a man who introduced himself as Jack Shepard.

"Hi," he said, "ah, listen, I heard you talking to that man over there about your boyfriend. He was helping me earlier, but I saw him go off that way."

Jack pointed down the beach.

"Thanks," Shannon stated plainly, starting off at a run in the direction in which he had pointed.

---

Shannon spotted Boone sitting alone down by the water, watching the sunset.

"Boone!" She yelled when she got within earshot.

He turned his head away from the water so that the orange and pink light shone over his hair.

She stopped next to him, her breath coming in short gasps.

"Is it your asthma?" He asked, suddenly concerned.

"No, I'm fine."

He looked up at her inquisitively.

"Did you tell anyone?" She burst out after a moment.

Boone looked taken aback.

"Tell anyone what?"

"That we're siblings. Does anybody know…anybody?" She asked desperately.

"No, I haven't told anyone yet, why?" He asked, utterly confused.

Shannon relaxed immediately, all worry and anxiety gone as quickly as it had come. Her next words were surprisingly casual.

"Because I told the pregnant girl you were my boyfriend," she said nonchalantly, examining a fingernail.

Boone's mouth fell open and his eyes widened.

"Excuse me?"

"I. Told. Her. That. We're. Lovers." She said calmly, as if trying to make a child understand that playing with their daddy's knife is _not _a good idea.

Boone's face cracked into a grin as he began to laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

"You know, that's real funny Shan," he said after his laughter had died down.

Shannon sat down in the sand next to him.

"It's true," she began, "and you better not tell anyone otherwise, or we'll both be in deep shit."

Boone started at her, completely bewildered.

"You're not joking."

"Of course I'm not joking. Why would I joke?"

Boone stood up abruptly.

"Why the hell would you tell her that? You're toying with our life as though it's just a game," he shouted.

"She asked, and I felt like saying yes. And anyway, it doesn't matter. Nobody knows what we really are to each other. All we have to do is pretend. And," she added as a cruel afterthought, "we seem to be pretty good about pretending with this sort of thing."

"Yes," he said coldly, "you do."


	4. Chapter Two

Everyone Has Secrets --- Chapter Two

---

Boone took a deep, tangy breath and pushed it back out again, trying to calm his racing heart. What was she playing at?

There was enough tension between them already – she didn't have to intensify it so completely by morphing their lives into a game. She had him by the neck like a child leashing a puppy. He wasn't going to put it right, he knew that. He was going to play along with her like he did when they were kids. Giving their true relationship away would make them look like fools and bring up unnecessary and unwanted questions. He was going to have to forget his role as brother. His new role had a ring to it, though he wouldn't admit it even to himself. He was broken now; he had succumbed to his sister once again. Everything was always about what Shannon wanted. And he always gave in. Now she was toying with their lives, making him something more than a brother. Boyfriend. Consort. Romantic interest. Lover.

Yes, lover definitely had a ring.

---

"Hey baby," Shannon said playfully to Boone, her eyes mocking him, drawing him nearer.

She was talking with a pretty dark-haired girl near the fuselage.

"This is Kate," she said as he reached them, "Kate, this is Boone, my boyfriend."

She said the words so smoothly and casually; it was as if she'd always been wanting to.

"Hi," Boone said, shaking the woman's hand. He had already forgotten her name.

"Boone, I need to talk to you," Shannon said, her eyes intent on his face.

"Alright."

"Excuse us, will you?" She said to the woman as she steered Boone away from the fuselage and towards the leafy forest.

---

Shannon had Boone into the forest and up against a tree before he knew what had happened. Her lips were on his in a matter of seconds and it took all his self-restraint to push her away.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her eyes fiery.

"We can't do this," he hissed, "not again."

He was too close to giving in.

"But it doesn't matter anymore," she said convincingly. "We're starting over new, the way it was meant to be. We don't have to hide anymore. Nobody knows."

"Knows what?" He breathed as he let her push him back up to the tree.

She was right. They could be who they wanted to be now without anyone ever being the wiser. New secrets entail new beginnings.

---

That evening all of the survivors gathered around a fire on the beach, settling down on logs. Everyone went around, introducing themselves to the others.

Jack, a doctor, who had already taken charge of the group sat across from Boone, and next to him sat the woman Shannon had introduced him to earlier, whose name he remembered now was Kate. An irritable Tennessee man who called himself Sawyer stood smoking against a nearby tree. The pregnant woman, Claire, who had been the first to be exposed to the lie sat next to a Korean couple that did not seem to be able to speak English. A man with mussed hair and grubby nails that said his name was Charlie and that he was a rock star sat beside them. A bald, middle-aged man named John Locke sat next to him who sat next to an African-American man named Michael and his young son Walt.

When it was Boone's turn, he stated his name, age, occupation, and where he was from and then turned it over to Shannon.

"Hi," she began, her eyes sparkling in a way Boone had never seen them do before. "I'm Shannon Rutherford, Boone's girlfriend."

She left it there. Nothing else was needed. Because that was who she was now.


End file.
